Shortly after celebrating the success of Balatro at The Game Awards 2024, the game's creator, LocalThunk, is calling out PEGI for switching the game's rating to 18+ earlier in the year - the highest age rating that PEGI can give, and by far the highest rating Balatro has received from any ratings board. A rating of 18+ classifies Balatro as a game that's available for adults only and restricts minors from legally purchasing the game in the UK, though there are obviously ways around those restrictions.

In a post from @LocalThunk on X, the creator of Balatro has called out PEGI for the hypocrisy of Balatro's 18+ rating, saying "maybe I should add microtransactions/loot boxes/real gambling to lower that rating to 3+ like EA sports FC," specifically referring to EA Sports FC 25's 3+ PEGI rating. Notably, FC 25, despite being a full-price game, also includes a heavy focus on in-game microtransactions, encouraging players to spend additional money on a currency, FC Points, which can be used for in-game purchases, including random card packs.

Balatro Developer Contests The Game's 18+ PEGI Rating

The Creator Of Balatro Calls Out PEGI For Inconsistent Ratings Of Gambling In Games

The PEGI website justifies Balatro's 18 rating by saying that the game's use of real poker hands teaches skills that "could be transferred to a real-life game of poker," conflating Balatro's mechanics with gambling - even though the game has relatively little to do with real poker outside cosmetic elements, like using poker hands to score or winning chips as an equivalent to points. Next to PEGI ratings for games like EA Sports FC 25 (3+) or Honkai: Star Rail (12+), which heavily encourage spending real money on in-game gambling elements, Balatro's 18+ comes off as hypocritical.

Notably, LocalThunk has also clarified that the hypocrisy of other games' ratings is more of an issue than Balatro's rating itself, saying in another post on X that "I'm way more irked at the 3+ for games with actual gambling mechanics for children." It should be pointed out that, despite Balatro's poker-themed gameplay, the game's cost has only ever been the one-time, upfront purchase of the game itself, with no microtransactions or currencies, and all of Balatro's content can be unlocked by simply playing it.

Balatro Does Less To Encourage Gambling Than Any Game With Loot Boxes

Despite Balatro's Poker-Themed Gameplay, Gambling Is Not A Major Aspect

Next to games with a heavy emphasis on monetization through microtransactions, it's suspect to think that Balatro encourages real-world gambling in any meaningful way. While the game does use poker hands, its actual gameplay is a poker-themed twist on deckbuilding roguelikes and is much more comparable to something like Slay the Spire than actual, real-world poker.

As PEGI tightens its restrictions on depictions of gambling, rather than actual gambling elements, however, it's uncertain if the ratings of either Balatro or microtransaction-heavy games like FC 25 will change in the future.

While there's some validity to the point that Balatro can familiarize players with real poker hands, the game's 18+ rating is inconsistent next to games that actually encourage gambling with real money on in-game rewards, like the infamous Arcane Fractured Jinx skin from League of Legends (rated 12+ by PEGI), which requires players to buy in-game items for a small chance at getting the skin. Although Balatro's rating might technically be justified according to PEGI guidelines, the ratings board may also want to revisit the ratings of other games as well.

Sources: @LocalThunk/X (1, 2), PEGI